Railway-switch.



N0. 68!,665. Patented Aug. 27, 190i. W. S. ARMSTRONG.

RAILWAY SWITCH.

(Application filed Sept. 25, 1900.)

(No Model.)

UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VALTER S. ARMSTRONG, OF RUTHVEN, IOWA.

RAILWAY-SWITCH.

SPEGIFICA 'lION forming part of Letters Patent No. 681,665, dated August 27, 1901.

Application filed September 25, 1900- Serial No. 81,010. (No model.)

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Switches, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide improved means for permitting the switching of rolling-stock from a continuous main line to a siding through the operation of a single switch-stand.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of parts hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claim,

and illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan of a railway, illustrating the application of my invention. Fig. 2 is a '20 plan of a portion of my device to be employed in carrying wheels on one side of the rollingstock over a continuous rail of the main line. Fig. 3 is an inner side view of the outer mainline rail, showing the incline of the approachrail relative thereto and to the shifting switchrail.

In the construction of the apparatus and the mounting thereof, as shown, the numeral 10 designates the outer rail, and 11 the inner 3o rail, of the main line of a railway, both of which are continuous or without frogs or intel-sections, notches, or breaks in their treads.

The numerals 12 13 designate the inner and outer rails, respectively, of a siding or side track and approximate at one end to the mainline rails. A frog-block 14 is mounted on the cross-ties at the place where the trend of the rail 12 crosses the longitudinal plane of the rail 11, and said frog-block is notched or grooved for the reception of the rail 11 and has its upper face flush with the tread-surface of said rail. A groove 15 is provided in the upper face of the frog-block 14, just inside of the rail 11, for the accommodation of flanges of the wheels traveling on said rail.

The rail 12 is broken at and overlaps the ends of the frog-block 1 1, and the tread-planes of the overlapping end portions of said rail are,

elevated from the upper surface of the frog- 5o block a distance approximating to or slightly greater than the projection of car wheel flanges. A tongue 16 is pivoted at one end to the frog-block 14 by means of a pin 17 and end to the extremity of one arm of said lever and extends beneath the rails 13 12 11 to a point beyond the frog-block 14. The inner end portion of the rod 19 is bent upwardly and back across the frog-block and rail 11, and the extremity thereof traverses the tongue 16 and is secured thereto by a nut 20. The end portion of the rail 13 and that portion of the rail 12 between the frog-block and the rail 10 are connected by bars 21, hooked on the flanges thereof, and are arranged for movement conjunctively laterally relative to the main-line rails. The end portion of the siding-rails are attenuated or tapered laterally and lay alongside of the main-line rails, the rail 13 extending to a greater distance along the rail 11 than the rail 12 along the rail 10. The extremity of the rail 13 is in the plane of the tread of the rail 11, and said rail 13 inclines upwardly at such an angle that at the point opposite the extremity of the rail 12 its tread-plane would be above the tread-plane of the rail 11 a distance sufficient to permit the flanges of car-wheels to cross said rail 11 without contact therewith. The extremity of the rail 12 is in the same horizontal plane as is that portion of the rail 13 directly opposite thereto and permits the flanges of the car-wheels to cross the rail 10 without contact therewith.

To raise the car-wheels traveling on the rail 10 to the tread-plane of the extremity of the rail 12, I employ a short approach-rail 22, outside of and parallel with the rail 10. The forward end portion of the approach-rail 22 is opposite the extremity of the attenuated portion of the rail 13 and in the horizontal plane of the main-line rail. The rear portion of the approach-rail 22 is in the horizontal plane of the rails 12 13, opposite thereto and above the tread-plane of the main-line rails,

th us permitting the flanges of the car-wheels to cross the rail and turn upon the point of the rail 12.

A switch-stand 23 is provided and may be rotated on a vertical axis by a hand-lever 24. An arm 25 is fixed to and extends laterally from the switch-stand 23, and a rod 26 connects the extremity of said arm to the end portions of the rails 12 13. A brace 27 connects the extremity of the rail 13 with the rod 26. A lever 28 is mounted for oscillation on a vertical axis between the main-line rails, and one end of said lever is connected by rod 29 to the extremity of the rail 13, while the opposite end of said lever is connected by a rod 30 to the forward end of the approach-rail 22. An arm 31 is fixed to and extends from the switch-stand 23, opposite to the arm 25, and a rod 32 adjustably connects said arm to the rear portion of the approach-rail 22. Au arm 33 is fixed to and extends laterally from. the switch-stand 23, opposite to the lever 24, and a rod 34 pivotally connects said arm with the transverse arm of the bell-crank lever 18.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, the parts are assembled to turn the rolling-stock from the main line to the siding, and the approach-rail 22 receives and carries the outer wheels above the main-line rail 10 on the same inclined plane as the switch rail 13 to the shiftingpoint of the rail 12. A rearward movement rails.

the rail 13 draft is applied to the rod 29,which oscillates the lever 28 and pushes the rod 30 outward, resulting in an outward movement of the forward portion of the approach-rail 22, while at the same time the crank-arm 31 pushes the rod 32 and moves the rear portion of the approach-rail away from the rail 10. In the same movement of the switch-stand the rod 34 is pulled by the crank-arm 33 and oscillates the bell-crank lever 18, which in turn pushes the rod 19 and moves the tongue 16 across the tread-plane of the rail 11 to a position inside of and parallel with said rail. The parts are now brought into positions whereby the main-line rails are unobstructed and the rolling-stock may travel freely thereon.

I claim as my invention-- The combination of the main-line rails of continuous form, the attenuated and elevated switch-rails communicating with the mainline rails at times, the bridging-tongue forming a continuation of one of the switch-rails and arranged to cross one of the main-line rails at times, an approach-rail in an inclined plane outside of and parallel with the outer main-line rail and means for moving the switch-rails, bridging-tongue and approachrail conjunctively, the approach-rail at all times paralleling the outer main-line rail.

Signed at Des Moines, Iowa, this 13th day of September, 1900.

\VALTER S. ARMSTRONG.

I Witnesses:

S. 0. SWEET, O. E. BYsKIT. 

